


Everything I Shouldn't Be Thinking About

by oywiththepeetaalready



Series: More of You [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 16:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oywiththepeetaalready/pseuds/oywiththepeetaalready
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes life throws you a curveball. Sometimes that curveball is tall, blonde and has blue eyes that you never thought you'd get to see again. Peeta Mellark is back in Katniss Everdeen's life, and it isn't at all how she had imagined. (Outtake from More of You universe) Modern AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything I Shouldn't Be Thinking About

**Author's Note:**

> Outtake from between the original work and the sequel that is coming soon.

_You're playing with my mind, baby ain't no doubt_  
I'm thinking about everything I shouldn't be thinking about  
You're everything I shouldn't be thinking about

_-Thompson Square, “Everything I Shouldn’t Be Thinking About”_

After working for two years as a high school history teacher, Katniss is going a bit stir crazy.

She misses going to classes, learning for herself and exploring things she’d only dreamed of before. She misses talking to people who loved history as much as she does.

So, she’s going back to school. She had sent in her applications and has her hopes set on UNC Chapel Hill. She had done her research for quite some time before applying there and three other schools scattered up and down the eastern side of the country.

About a week into the waiting game that is hoping for acceptances from universities, she is talking to Madge on the phone, leg bouncing and foot tapping nervously. She confides in her friend how stressed she is and is surprised when her friend laughs at her.

“This is funny to you?” Katniss rolls her eyes while her friend’s giggles subside.

“Of course. Miss Perfect GPA is worried about getting into a grad school. Seriously? And sweetie, this isn’t Yale or Harvard. I wouldn’t panic.”

Her hackles go up. “I know it’s not Ivy League but damn. It has everything I want and the courses sound amazing, and they have this professor-“

“There.”

“What, there?”

“That rant you were about to go on is why you’ll get in. It has the passion to go with the grades on your transcript. You will be fine. But, now that I think about it, have you even visited the school?”

“Well, no, but-“

Madge cuts her off again. “When is your school’s spring break?”

“Two and a half weeks, but…”

“Damn it, woman. Just stop objecting. I’ll ask off work and we are gonna take a road trip for a few days. I can come stay with you the night before and we can drive, stay for two or three days and come back. Simple.”

Katniss tries to think of a good excuse but knows it won’t matter. Her friend has a stubborn streak almost as impressive as her own and she finally just sighs. She hears the other woman crow in triumph on the other end of the phone and hang up before Katniss can object.

  _There is no saying no to that woman_.

\--

A week and a half later and Katniss is getting burnt out, just like her students. She gets home after a ridiculously long day and decides to defuse with a glass of wine, Netflix and a marathon Google session to discover what there is to do in Chapel Hill while they are there the next week.

Before starting her search, she offhandedly decides to post on Facebook to get recommendations.

**Going a bit east in a few days to check out Chapel Hill’s campus. Any suggestions on what to do while I am over there?**

She aimlessly searches and ends up paying more attention to the episode of _Once Upon A Time_ she has playing. She is startled out of the staring contest she was having with the television due to their very attractive version of Captain Hook when her phone goes off on the table next to her an hour or so later. She glances briefly at the sender before opening the text message, the information not entirely sinking in until she selects it and sees a name she had never expected to see again.

 **Peeta Mellark**.

She chokes on her sip of wine and puts the glass down, blinking rapidly at the screen in front of her. She hasn’t heard from him since about a year after he graduated. They had occasionally messaged on Facebook, but never anything beyond a time or two every few months, then their contact had slipped into nonexistence. Now, she has a text from him.

**Looks like you are heading into my neck of the woods fairly soon. Still in need of tips on how to occupy yourself?**

Katniss gapes at her phone for a good five minutes before coming to her senses. She had dated a bit in the three years since they had gone out, but none of her significant others ever got a reaction like this when they had contacted her. She feels herself go back into her college mode and begins wondering whether she should text him back immediately or play the waiting game she had been so good at.

As she continues puzzling it out, she realizes twenty minutes have passed since she got the message and decides to just bite the bullet and respond.

**Hey stranger. Yeah, I guess you would be a bit of an expert on this, huh?**

Her phone chimes almost instantly with a return message.

**To say the least. When are you coming here? It’d be cool to see ya again.**

_Is he fucking kidding me?_ Katniss finds herself squinting at the phone in disbelief. Almost no contact for so long and then this happens? Instead of texting back immediately, she calls Madge, knowing that the news will entertain her immensely.

After going through the normal pleasantries, Katniss drops her bomb. “Hey, remember that guy Peeta from junior year?”

“Your gorgeous blonde? Yeah, I remember him. Whatever happened to him?”

Katniss stifles a laugh, eager to see how long it is going to take to get Madge to realize what is going on. “He ended up going to Duke for med school. Pediatrics maybe? I don’t remember. It was a while ago.”

“Duke? That’s so weird. Isn’t that just – no way.”

“Madge?”

“He saw your status.”

Katniss just pauses, waiting.

“Holy shit! He contacted you didn’t he? That ass contacted you. After all this time?”

She gives in to her laughter. “Impressive. Correct on all counts. To be fair though, it isn’t like I kept up with him. For God’s sake, I even forgot he went to Duke until I got the text.”

“Girl, you need to do something about this. If he is half as attractive as I remember, you need to get on that.”

“On that or on him?”

This time Madge is the one letting out a giggle. “Either or. I’m not gonna tell you which to do. Oh seriously though, Katniss, I will totally just make myself scarce and find something to do one of the nights. You totally need to meet up with him.”

“Breathe. Who says I want to meet up with him?”

Madge ignores her question. “Oh my God if you get in to UNC you will only be like what, half an hour away from him? Oh you could actually date him. Oh this needs to happen.”

“You are getting so far ahead of yourself,” Katniss says, not admitting that her mind had gone the same route as her babbling friend’s had.

“Text him back. You are seeing him.”

Katniss rolls her eyes. “Yes mom.”

“When’s the last time you got laid?”

“Fuck you,” she mumbles. “Just because you were happy with my leftovers….”

“Gale wasn’t your leftover. You went out once and didn’t even kiss him. That’s not a date. Now go text him. And tell me which day to make plans on my own.”

“Madge….”

“Bye, Katniss.”

Katniss rolls her eyes and decides to glance at Peeta’s Facebook to see what he’s been up to before answering him. She vaguely remembers removing him from showing up on her home page so she wouldn’t be constantly wondering about him. Now, she has no idea what he even looks like. There’s no telling how accurate her three-year-old memory actually is.

After finding his page, she swallows. Hard. He somehow looks more attractive than the last time she remembers. He looks happy and well put together in almost every photo.

And so does the redhead in most of his pictures.

That feeling in the pit of her stomach turns from desire to envy. As she pages though an album on his profile, she finds herself analyzing the girl in the pictures more so than the man she had originally started staring at.

She’s beautiful, of course. She could probably be a model. But odds are, she’s a med student too. A perfect one that understands everything Peeta talks about when discussing a day of grad school without having to dumb it down like he would with someone with a liberal arts degree.

Katniss cringes at the amount of bitterness creeping into her thoughts and shakes her head as if that will remove it from her mind. She reminds herself she has no claim over the blonde boy who had once wanted her. Then she decides to do something logical for once and checks his online relationship status. When she navigates to his About Me page, she finds herself breathing a sigh of relief.

Single.  

 _God I’m pathetic_.

She picks up her phone, realizing she had never texted him back.

**I’ll be heading your way middle of next week. Think we have hotel reservations for the Thursday night until we leave Sunday afternoon.**

She returns her attention back to her television even though she is not entirely sure she knows what is going on at this point. Her focus is quickly drawn away again as her phone buzzes and the two revert back to their rapid fire conversations they had been used to in college.

**We? Boyfriend?**

She laughs at how quickly the question was brought up. **Me and my best friend. I think you met her back at school.**

**Ah gotcha. Would you have time to meet up for a drink? Don’t want to take time away from your girls’ weekend.**

**I think I can squeeze you into our ever-so-busy schedule.**

**I feel honored.**

Katniss nods in approval, even though she is fully aware he can’t see any of her actions. **As you should. Would you have time? Not sure how busy you are with other people or school.** She hopes this will bring up something involving that redhead she is still irked over.

**Happy Hours are one of the few things I make time for. Can’t say I have much socializing going on outside of my lab partner and a few of our mutual suffering through med school friends.**

Another sigh of relief overtakes her. Lab partner. That would actually make sense. A few of the photos did have books scattered on a table or were in an academic setting. Still doesn’t mean that she isn’t envious that this girl gets to see him on a regular basis. But, whatever.

**Understood. But yeah, just let me know when you wanna meet up. I am game for whatever and you know the area far better than I do.**

**True. And Chapel Hill is less than half an hour away from Duke. I am sure I can figure something out. Put me in your schedule for Friday night, okay?**

**Sounds good. I’ll text you when we get into town to find out plans.**

**Great. Talk to you then.**

Katniss tosses her phone to the other side of the couch and lets herself shake out the nervous energy in her body. Suddenly all jealousy is replaced by something far less familiar. Excitement.

_See you soon, Peeta Mellark._

**Author's Note:**

> More of You was going to be a oneshot, but I missed writing those characters. Written for Prompts in Panem Seven Deadly Sins Challenge: Day 7, Envy.


End file.
